A Miscommunication
by ToadstoolTea
Summary: Post-series. Wataru's bummed about the Hino development, so Ryousuke tries to help him out. There's a bit of a vocabulary issue. Slashy.


Someone mentioned this pairing at the LJ com, and I kinda wanted it to happen, because I like it in a weird kind of way. I tried really hard for this to be IC but I don't know... _ Anyhow, this is still really rough plz forgive me

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It was turning out to be an average morning.

Ryousuke Tsukimori clicked his tongue at the notion as he flipped his mobile phone closed. He never realized how early he woke up until recently; without gang fights or morning practices filling the time before school, he had nothing to do besides wander around campus before class. He figured that he could find somewhere else to be... maybe hang out with Nippori or one of the other underclassmen, or find a corner of campus and pick a girl to call up before the first bell rung.

Instead, Ryousuke was heading to homeroom. He'd come to hate homeroom, but he knew he had to go. Was _doomed_ to go. He had to _check_. So he dragged his feet down the senior hall, his shoulders drooping in fatalistic anticipation.

As he navigated the busy morning corridors, he caught a welcome sight. Lingering outside homeroom 3-E were the original tumbling trio; it was a sight that brightened his mood and brought a smirk to his face. There were jokes and fist bumps exchanged between the blond and Yuuta, Mizusawa, and Kaneko before he slid into the classroom. With a well-timed poke, he distracted Kiyama enough from his reading to get a quick greeting, and then he turned to his own little corner of the room.

Ryousuke winced.

In any other context, he would have reveled in the opportunity to mingle with the very cute group of girls in front of him, but at the moment they were the enemy. Instead he bowed his head and shoved his hands in his pocket, avoiding eye contact with his female classmates as he made a beeline to his seat.

Setting his school bag down and arranging himself in his chair, he looked over to the boy sitting behind him. The redhead's head was buried in his arms, splayed across his desk. Unfortunately, Ryousuke was privileged with the knowledge that his friend was, for once, not taking a snooze before class.

He leaned over, looking to some of his classmates before turning to his friend.

"Wataru, it's been how long now?"

He was answered with a groan.

"Y'know, you've got to get over this sometime."

Ryousuke's glance returned to the girls. Gathered around the desks beside them, Mari was chatting with Aoi and some other members of the gymnastics team, much like any other morning since she transferred in. The difference was that now she always seemed to be checking her mobile phone, even in the middle of class, periodically giggling to herself and showing it to her friends. The name "Hino" came up frequently.

In the meantime, everyone had gotten used to Wataru being really "sleepy" during homeroom.

"Ryousuke..." Wataru half-mumbled, half-whined. "...it's 'cause she broke my heart..."

The blond exhaled. This was something he would've - and did - laugh at a few weeks ago, the first time the two had this exchange, but every day it got less funny and more pathetic. Luckily, it was only like this in the mornings, when Wataru didn't have much else to do except stare at his crush phone-flirting with her own. That was enough to make the blond wonder if it was a serious problem.

It was hard to believe. This was the guy who'd probably beat up a hundred delinquents, did his very best to defy any authority figure he could, and managed to turn the boys' gymnastics team into sheer awesome? Wataru Azuma used to run the freaking school... the freaking town.

The very same Wataru Azuma was a blithering puddle of sod when it came to the fairer sex. It really hurt to watch.

"Ryousuke..." the redhead repeated, tugging on his friend's sleeve.

The blond shrugged him off, and turned back around in his desk. It was getting harder to deal with this every morning... but he couldn't help but think how hard it must of been for his friend to deal with the display that went on beside him every weekday. He rapped his fingers against his desk, looking about him, his mind at work.

That's when the proverbial gears started turning, and he shot to his feet.

"C'mon! We're gonna talk." Within seconds, Ryousuke had pulled Wataru out of his seat and was dragging him down the halls, both too distracted to notice the stares they garnered as they traversed the building.

...

A few minutes later, the blond was shoving his friend onto that strange bench that had made its way to the school roof. The area was still kind of homey to Ryousuke, and had been pretty much deserted since all the yankees stopped doing yankee things. He was pretty sure that he could speak with Wataru openly there, and the change of scenery was welcome. Perhaps the fresh air and the near-summer weather would help both their moods.

Wataru plopped down heavily, and the other yankee pulled over a chair to sit opposite of him with the gravest of looks on his face.

"You gotta get over this."

"I'm fine!" Wataru protested, pointing to a grin that had made its way to his face. Like a thirsty houseplant just watered for the first time in weeks, in the absence of his beloved, he was beginning to show signs of recovery.

Ryousuke looked the side and sighed. That wasn't enough. Even if it was just for a few minutes in the mornings and between classes, the former Head of Kara High was not going to writhe in his self-pity a single day longer. The blond would make it his mission to prevent that.

"Look, I can introduce you to another girl..."

"No, that's..."

Ryousuke crossed his arms. "That's _what_? And don't give me that 'I'm serious about girls' crap. You're not that serious if you can't even tell the one you like how you feel. It's like you can't even talk to anything with boobs." The blond looked to the ground, tapped his chin, then looked up again. "Okay, I'm a girl."

"No, you're not," Wataru replied flatly.

Ryousuke rolled his eyes. "It's called 'imagination', genius. Now, I'm a girl, okay? A girl you like... I'm Mari-chan. Talk to me like you'd talk to her."

Wataru leered at him, looking annoyed. Grumbling, Wataru finally relented, furrowing his brow and squeezing his eyes shut. Ryousuke licked his lips as he waited, watching the features of Wataru's face softening, and his brows drawing up like he was deep in thought.

"Why... did you choose Hino..."

Ryousuke sighed.

"Why...? Why?!" In the bright morning sun, Ryousuke could've sworn that something was glistening in the corner of the other boy's eyes... was he crying?

"Alright, alright!" he shouted, shaking Wataru out of his stupor. "Okay, I'm a different girl! Your ideal girl. Better than Mari-chan."

"Better than Mari-chan?" Wataru repeated it like the blond had spoken blasphemy and deserved to be stoned to death.

But Ryousuke persisted and nodded. "Yeah. What am I like?"

"I guess you're nice."

"Uh-huh?"

"And cute. And..." Wataru's face contorted, almost like he was in pain. "Argh, I dunno! I don't care what she's like as long as she's someone I can be cool with. I just want someone I like."

Ryousuke took a deep breath, considering what he'd just heard. "Like a friend."

"No, different! Special...er..." Wataru grumbled, leaning back in his seat, and Ryousuke chewed on his lip. He no longer knew where he was going with this, but he still felt determined to do _something_.

He'd try again.

Ryousuke flipped his hair, well overdo for a cut and brushing against his shoulders, and cocked his head to the side. "Azuma-kun!" Even pitched-up a few octaves, Ryousuke's voice was still deep and raspy and unmistakably masculine. He figured that didn't matter as long as Wataru was better at imagining things than he was at... most anything else that wasn't fighting.

In fact, while he was at it, he grasped Wataru's hands - something he knew drove his friend crazy every time Mari had done it. He flashed what he figured would be a shy and girlish smile, which on his face looked more like a twitchy, twisted grin, before he continued.

"I think you're so wonderful! I'd love to go out with a guy like you... _So, whaddya do now?_" Ryousuke slid back into his normal voice. Wataru was silent for a while, merely staring back at him. Ryousuke wondered if he was just weirded out by this exercise between two guys, but upon closer inspection, the other boy seemed more at a loss than anything.

"I dunno," he eventually admitted.

"Dammit Wataru! You're a _damn idiot_." Ryousuke exhaled, suddenly frustrated, and much too upset to notice that he was still holding his friend's hands. "You could tell her what you like about her! Like, you're an idiot, but you do work really hard. You're not cool at all, but you never back down from things. You care too freaking much- And, uh..."

A deep breath. Wataru still was staring, looking dumbfounded, like Ryousuke was speaking Greek. There was no way the Head of Kara High could think so lowly of himself. Damn, why wouldn't he just _get it?_

"Just have some freaking confidence!" Ryosuke clicked his tongue, and opened his mouth to resume his rant when Wataru Azuma _dove into it_.

Their tongues collided, tumbling about like that first meet in April. The abruptness didn't help, and nor the fact that they were the same height. Both took turns, pushing against the other, almost clawing at each other, fighting for dominance.

Then Ryousuke pushed back again, but almost immediately, he was shoved back even further. He hadn't noticed how far the other boy had pushed him until he ran into that desk on the roof. Instinctively, he braced himself against it.

"I-" The blond shuddered, when he felt hands grabbing at his belt.

_Wait-_

Ryousuke's eyes fluttered open. Then he realized that it was nothing but spiky red hair flooding his vision. Wataru Azuma had spiky red hair. Wataru Azuma, _another guy_, was on top of him and-

His half-lidded eyes snapped open, nearly bugging out of his head, and he pushed the other boy off of him as hard as he could. The blond swung his fist, and it smashed into Wataru's jaw. The latter nearly doubled over as he fell to the ground.

Ryousuke tried to backed up a few paces, but he ended up tripping backwards over that desk. He cupped his hand over his face. It was warm to his own touch; the blond knew that it was be anger, as he didn't blush. He never did, and not for something like this. The whole time, his eyes never left the redhead once... not when he might do something crazy like that again.

"The hell? What the hell is wrong with you?"

Wataru looked just as intently as Ryousuke, just as surprised and - what the _hell_ - just as victimized as the guy he just jumped. As his gasps slowed he began to stutter, "y-y-you're a girl!" Then Wataru slowly rose an accusing finger at the blond, as he fished for something else to say. "_You_ said that! Make up your damn mind! '_Imagination_!'"

The blond just stared at him. The wind blew. The first bell rung.

Neither boy said anything for a while.

The blond stood there, trying to do everything in his power not to think, while Wataru stayed on the ground, looking much too pensive. He brushed the back of the hand against his mouth, and looked to see a mixture of blood from a burst lip and saliva that wasn't all his. He looked at it for what might've been a long time before he dared to break the silence.

"Ryousuke..."

Wataru's voice was wet and shaky again, his split lip projected in the pout of a disappointed child.

"That was my... my..."

He never finished his sentence. Instead, he jumped to his feet, yelled at the top of his lungs, and ran down the staircase... presumably to the restroom to wash his mouth out or something. Ryousuke just watched, then mentally scolded himself, wondering why he hadn't considered doing that first.

So he stumbled backwards onto the bench and continued to stare at the spot the other boy had just been sitting. Something was in the back of his mind was telling him that he should be angry, but he just ended up feeling blank and empty. Something else told him that he needed to put what just happened together, but he didn't want to think. His mind was still buzzing with a warm, nervous energy as much as his skin and every other part of his body, for that matter.

Helping his friend like this had seemed a like good idea, so how did it- _because it's Wataru_. The other boy couldn't have possibly been that some dumb role playing-_maybe, because it's Wataru_. And Ryousuke was not that into what just happened- well, it was...

It was everything Wataru was - sloppy, awkward, so forceful and straightforward it hurt.

It was _hot_.

But... there was absolutely no way that Wataru Azuma had ever kissed someone before. That was fact. They'd had the awkward talks during those adult video viewing sessions with Nippori. Speaking of which, they always skipped that part in the porn they'd watched so... how did he... know how to...

Something clicked in Ryousuke's head.

A small smile kept onto his face. He didn't want to use words like "sick" or "weird"... he'd done a lot of thinking after that training camp incident a few months ago. But as... unorthodox as what had just happened was, Ryousuke couldn't help but feel a little pleased at the fact that he'd been Wataru's first kiss. At least it hadn't been with some girl that would break his fragile little heart or anything.

It was... kinda... okay? Because they were best friends, and Ryousuke Tsukimori would never do that to someone he liked so much.


End file.
